Chapter 48

“Cersinia.”

When she opened the door, she was first surprised by the voice she heard then by the strange sight in front of her.

“Ben, what’s…happening?”

Ben, who she thought disappeared, stood there in front of her house. He was dressed in a dark red uniform and had a sword around his waist. He exactly looked like he did when she saw him in the square. But this time, people were kneeling beside him, all tied by ropes. Cersinia then looked at the familiar faces, Charles, the village Chief, the freckled woman, and the woman who threw the torch at her. All of them bowed, their heads touching the ground, like sinners and didn’t make eye contact with Cersinia.

“Goredon?”

Cersinia, who was blankly staring at them, stopped at one person. Goredon. According to the latest news he left the village with his family. But for some reason he was also kneeling there.

“How…”

Ben, who was coldly watching them, turned warm upon seeing Cersinia. The Chief, who had been wondering what their relationship was, realized now why Ben told him to beg Cersinia. He realized, from the Grand Duke’s gaze, that the witch had power over the Grand Duke’s decision.

“Goredon admitted to it all.”

Ben took a step closer to the confused Cersinia.

“Is that true, Goredon?”

“I-I’m sorry, lady Cersinia…Charles threatened me to do it, so I had no choice…”

“It’s Charles.”

“I’m really sorry.”

Goredon bowed his head to the ground with all his might.

“Ha.”

A shrill laugh escaped from Cersinia’s mouth. She already suspected that it was all Charles doing. But it was frustrating and dumbfounding how funny it was that she was right.

Cersinia approached Charles, the closer she got, the stronger the disgusting smell, of blood and days of no showering mixed together, hit her nose. Charles was trembling. His face was so pale that he looked like he could die any moment. Cersinia’s eyes were looking for the cause of the smell of blood, when her eyes finally laid on Charles’s banded shoulder.

“As expected, it was you.”

Cersinia didn’t give his bloody shoulder much thought, and just focused on her anger towards Charles.

“Spa-Spare me…”

His shameless lips said those words. With a messed-up face, Charles begged for his life.

“Because of you…”

The anger and other emotions Cersinia felt, from the resentment and anger she endured so far, flooded in. Cersinia had to bite her trembling lips to stop her from doing something she would regret.

“P-Please save me…I-It’s my fault. I’ll admit it all, so save me…”

Charles begged Cersinia with bloody tears. It was easy to see his desperation since it was clear that if Cersinia didn’t forgive him, the demonic man would kill him without hesitating for even a milli-second.

Cersinia silently stared at Charles, who was begging at her feet. All the humiliation and insults she had suffered from in this village was all Charles doing. Even May, who always approached people with a smile, was now crying and hiding because of those people. Cersinia’s wound tingled as if to remind her what she went through, of the indelible wound in her heart and of the sleepless nights she spent in fear of them invading her house again.

“But how dare you beg me for your life?”

If Charles had a conscience, he wouldn’t have come here and asked her to spare him. The very least a human being could’ve done was cry or apologize. Unable to bear it anymore, Cersinia grabbed Charles by his neck.

“Gasp!”

She could feel him wriggling trying to get out of Cersinia’s grasp since he was struggling to breathe. And then the unpleasant sensation returned, she had the urge to kill Charles right then and there. In an instant, her head started to hurt as if she had been hit by something and memories of when she lost control, and grabbed the freckled woman’s neck rushed to her mind.

“Urgh, urrgh…”

Surprised, Cersinia let go of Charles, who instantly fell on the ground.

“Cough, cough…!”

Charles, who was coughing, not only shed tears but also had a runny nose. Cersinia took a step away from him and put a hand on her pounding heart.

‘What is this memory?’

How could she remember something so clearly when she actually never did it. She was feeling dizzy and because of her confused state, her eyes became restless.

“Are you okay, Cersinia?”

Ben ran to her and wrapped his arms around Cersinia’s shoulder.

“I’ll kill him whenever you want.”

Ben thought that Cersinia had a weak heart and couldn’t punish Charles, so he was letting her know that her wishes were his order. Even if he had to dirty his hands in blood, for her, he would.

“Huh? Why…”

Cersinia was dumbfounded and confused. She couldn’t remember why she had taken a step back, but it must have been because of the drowsiness she felt. It felt like she remembered something but could not recall what it was. All that was left was the warmth she felt in the hand that was holding Charles’ neck.

“It’s okay. Thank you.”

She tried to quickly sort her confused mind and got out of Ben’s arms. Cersinia couldn’t afford to think about anything else right now. She had to get rid of those in front of her first.

“W-We thought you were a witch and that you set the food warehouse on fire, so we tried to do the same to your house last night…”

When the heightened atmosphere subsided for a while, Carl Jacques began to confess. Those who were kneeling on the ground were only hoping for her mercy.

“…”

Cersinia felt nauseous and disgusted when she faced the scene she had hoped for countless times. It was like she would vomit at any moment.

“We misunderstood. I, the representative of the village, will take this opportunity to apologize.”

The Chief carefully said while looking at her. He didn’t like it, but still bowed to look sincere and back up his words. To him, it was shameful and insulting to bow to a witch, but he had to since she was the only one who could save them.

“I’m sorry…”

“Forgive me just once…”

“…P-Please forgive me…”

The others who were silent before, quickly followed. They did not like the fact that they were apologizing to the witch, but what could they do? They had to live. Their apology was just a facade to be able to escape the clutch of the Grand Duke. And because of that they all sounded awkward and insincere. Cersinia endured so much and this was how they apologized?!

“I don’t want to.”

At the unexpected answer, the villagers raised their heads and looked at Cersinia. Her crimson eyes, darker than the setting sun, were terribly cold.

“W-What?”

The bewildered Chief stuttered. He thought that he heard wrong, but Cersinia’s voice was too clear for him to have heard wrong.

“Forgiving you is totally up to me, isn’t it? Then I decided not to forgive you guys.”

Cersinia’s voice was firm, showing that she had no intention of changing her mind.

“You witch…!”

Charles, who was angry at her cheeky attitude, yelled. But he was quickly shut up by Ben, who had grabbed the handle of his sword ready to have Charles’s neck flying.

“B-But I’m apologizing right now!”

The Chief shouted. He thought that he was doing well so far so he couldn’t understand why she couldn’t forgive them. He apologized, and that despite the humiliation, so how could she dare refuse it. His face turned red from the raging anger.

“ I know…And I said that I won’t accept it.”

Cersinia’s cold gaze turned to the Chief. Her eyes were firm and showed that there was no place for discussion. The villagers trembled at her answer, knowing what it meant for them.

“I apologized and you dare…Gasp!”

The Chief started to yell, but quickly shut up when he quickly stopped when he felt something heavy and cold on his shoulder. So he turned his head towards it and saw a scabbard sitting on his shoulder. Feeling threatened, he started trembling like an aspen tree and gulped. Had it not been for the scabbard, he would’ve probably been dead already.

“She said no.”

Something flashed in Ben’s dark purple eyes. And to make his point, Ben pressed the scabbard even harder on the Chief’s shoulder.

“Argh! I-I’m sorry.”

The Chief pleaded as he grimaced in pain. He felt pain as if a large rock was pressing on his shoulder.

“Ben, it’s okay.”

Cersinia stopped him. She didn’t want to waste energy on useless things, and if she had to use strength, she wanted to do it with her own hands, not someone else’s. Without hesitation, Cersinia pulled the sword from the scabbard in Ben’s hand.

“Cersinia.”

Ben’s eyes widened, surprised at her unexpected behavior.

“What are you trying to do…”

Charles freaked out, feeling the danger, as he saw the sword in Cersinia’s hand.

“Will there be a problem if I kill him?”

Cersinia looked at the blood-stained sword. There have been dozens of times when she thought she wanted to tear and kill Charles. Now it was her chance to do that. Chance to stab this sword into Charles’s heart and do her revenge.

“Never. You’ll not be harmed as I would take responsibility for everything.”

Ben’s words were comforting and made her determination even stronger. So she raised the sword without hesitation, the movement surprised the villagers as they watched her with wide eyes.

“Aaaargh!”

Along with Charles’s scream, the silver sword made a loud slashing sound as it cut through the wind.